Fine artist Susan Reiser is broadly known as the Cloud Nine Painter from Malvern. She's also known as someone who expresses a certain type of organic energy in each of her paintings.
"Every morning I count my lucky stars that I'm able to get my hands on a blank canvas and create," Susan admits, as she puts in about 10 hours a day to craft and embolden her artwork.
She developed a unique painting style with acrylics, oils, resin and gold leaf gilding, and applies a zestful rhythm to her work. Yet, she assures her technique also conveys a sense of peace and calm. Some of her results stem from her reverence for the ocean and a love of the outdoors. Her hobbies include golf and spending time by the water, primary in Avalon, New Jersey, which often inspire her choice of subjects.
Her commissioned work of art numbers in the hundreds, and she currently is working on five different series. She presently averages five art sales weekly, including international purchases.
"When I was 16 years old, I uncovered my passion for painting after my first trip to the Barnes Foundation," Susan recalls.
The Barnes in Philadelphia is home to one of the world's greatest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and early modernist paintings. The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture.
"It's fun and exciting to share creative passion with the world," says the artist who mainly paints en plein air. "The majority of my waterscapes and cloudscapes are painted by the edge of my pond or willow lake. I'm drawn to the water, and when I paint its beauty, I can both find and lose myself at the same time."
"Art isn't painting to me, it's love," declares Susan.
As a self-dubbed “heartist,” Susan says she tends to see the universal symbol for love in clouds, flowers and the natural world--making April's drumbeat around the annual Earth Day one of her favorite months for inspiring folks to get back outside to enjoy sunshine and life in general.
Her mother and daughter also paint at the family's compound in the Cloud Nine Studio, which she says is routinely visited by interior designers and buyers. The studio doubles at Susan's gallery, and is open by appointment.
Susan hopes that others feel a sense of calm, coupled with high energy and a splash of mystery, when viewing her work. "The beauty of my abstract compositions is that people can ascribe their own meaning to the works, but I always share my inspiration for each piece with each buyer. Each piece is a fusion of experience and emotion that I paint using my soul to capture the harmony of our world, which is so mind-blowingly beautiful," she adds.
She says she's paid for her vision, not for her labor.
Susan contributes to local charities; in fact, a portion of proceeds from a recent solo exhibit went to Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia. She also Paints It Forward.
If she could paint anything for the first time, Susan says it would be large-scale female portraits. "However, there are never enough hours in the day to paint everything in my painterly soul. I'm more interested in the searching than the finding."
reiser.susan@hotmail.com
610.755.5807
Instagram: cloud_nine_painter
